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FOOD & WINE
The Best Vegetable-Forward Fine Dining Restaurants in Singapore
by Anton D. Javier
03 Jan 2024
03 Jan 2024
These celebrated restaurants in Singapore prove that there is more to fine dining beyond luxurious ingredients like wagyu beef, caviar, and seafood.
- SAINT PIERRE
- RESTAURANT JAG
- ARAYA
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Brittany Purple Artichoke -
Loire Valley White Asparagus -
Akita Mountain Caviar
To cater to diners with diverse dietary preferences, Saint Pierre added the Elegance menu – a seven-course vegetarian degustation experience, which can also be adapted to suit vegans upon request – to its repertoire. Speaking about the menu, Chef-Owner Emmanuel Stroobant shares, “My goal is twofold: To show that vegetables can take center stage at any fine dining table and to ensure that plant-forward foodies do not miss out on the same gastronomic experience as other non-vegetarian diners.”
True to its name, the Elegance menu is sophisticated in both execution and presentation, where seasonal vegetables are handled with finesse and expertise, beautifully drawing out delicate flavors and textures.
The meal begins with a trio of snacks that play on contrasts. These include barbecued Hokkaido white corn atop tomato jelly, a sphere of white asparagus vichyssoise on a Jerusalem artichoke and black truffle tartelette, and wild mushroom braised in miso and soy in a dill tartelette. The Brittany Purple Artichoke officially starts the experience, where Jerusalem artichoke and coconut tartare is topped with black Périgord winter truffle and Brittany purple artichoke with truffle ginger dressing. Meanwhile, the Shizuoka Amela tomato stuns with its inherent sweetness and is rounded out by an accompanying miso emulsion and galangal consommé. The Hokkaido Kabocha makes for a filling main, generously stuffed with shallot compote and sesame seeds, and accompanied by the flakiest brown butter puff pastry filled with pumpkin mousse and brunoise of braised butternut pumpkin.
Visit Saint Pierre at 1 Fullerton Road, #02-02B One Fullerton, Tel: 6438 0887
- SAINT PIERRE
- RESTAURANT JAG
- ARAYA
RESTAURANT JAG
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Banana Shallot -
Celeriac -
Quince
Restaurant JAG has long held the distinction of being the authority on vegetable-forward gastronomy in Singapore. In the beginning, JAG celebrated the world of herbs and their unique flavor profiles. Today, the Michelin starred restaurant is synonymous with vegetable alchemy, where the season’s best produce takes on the multi-course meal’s starring role.
In the tail end of 2023, JAG embarked on a journey by uprooting itself from its Duxton Road home and starting anew at STPI Robertson Quay. Today, the restaurant comfortably seats 40 guests – twice as much as before – in an idyllic space surrounded by trees, overlooking the water, and bathed in natural light during the day. The space is also accompanied by a new menu, Ode to Autumn, where earthy, full-bodied root vegetables are in abundance – think Jerusalem artichoke, kohlrabi, celeriac, rutabaga, parsnip, and more.
A visit to JAG today allows you to experience the Shallot/Banana Shallot course, where the allium is used in its full glory – pickled, pureed, grilled, and transformed into jelly form, which is then drizzled with a grilled shallot stock and sariette oil. The Jerusalem artichoke is also presented in various iterations, where the tuber is served sliced, pickled with pine vinegar and oil, as a smooth puree with butter, and braised and glazed with sapin and muscovado. For those who prefer it, the Jerusalem artichoke dish will be paired with blue lobster and finished with drops of sapin and a sprinkling of Jerusalem artichoke powder. The meal ends on a literal bright note, where the Citrus dessert is comprised of cheery yellow and orange shades thanks to a mixture of citrus fruits – lemon ice cream, kumquat jam, ‘orange paper’ made from clementine juice, and finished with a yoghurt snow.
Visit Restaurant JAG at #02-02, 41 Robertson Quay, Tel: 3138 8477
- SAINT PIERRE
- RESTAURANT JAG
- ARAYA
ARAYA
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Tomato Sphere -
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La Panera bread selection (Chapalele, Chorizo, Marraqueta) -
Desierto Florido
Araya, helmed by Chefs Francisco Araya and Fernanda Guerrero, adds a new dimension to Singapore’s fine dining scene – one that celebrates techniques and flavors of Chilean South Pacific origins. For the tasting menu at the intimate restaurant hidden within Mondrian Singapore Duxton, expect to feast on dishes that use humble South American ingredients like corn, Andean potatoes, and Chilean cherries – but taken up a notch.
Chef Araya shares, “These humble ingredients are the heart and soul of Chilean South Pacific cuisine. We will elevate and celebrate them with fine culinary techniques and the addition of beautiful proteins from Japan and beyond.” This meeting of ingredients and cultures are immediately apparent in standout dishes like their take on the Brazilian fish stew, Moqueca, which uses Japanese kinki cooked to tender perfection and ceviche with shio koji-cured scallops with a spicy and tangy tiger’s milk sorbet.
Chef Araya also recently introduced an 8-course Vegetarian Menu, which transcends the ordinary with dishes like Mashua (an Andean tuber) Potage with Andean Quinoa, Beetroot Sorbet with Compressed Beetroot, and Roasted Cauliflower on an Aged Equatorial Cacao Sauce – a complex concoction made with Equatorial cacao, almonds, purple corn, raisins, cinnamon, and chilies.
Visit Araya at Mondrian Singapore Duxton, #01-08, Tel: 8870 0871
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